1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric parking brake apparatus and, more particularly, to an electric parking brake apparatus which outputs a signal indicating a state of operation of a parking brake to outside.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a manual or foot-operated parking brake, which provides a braking force to wheels when parking a vehicle, is provided with a mechanical switch that detects actuation and release of a parking brake. For example, a system such as a navigation system that requires acquisition of information regarding a state of a parking brake is connected to the mechanical switch so as to acquire information regarding the state of the parking brake.
On the other hand, it is difficult to provide a mechanical switch, which detects actuation and release of a parking brake, to an electric parking brake that actuates and releases the parking brake by an electric actuator since the electric actuator and other components must be provided to the parking brake, as compared to the manual or foot-operated parking brake.
For this reason, there is suggested in the following Patent Document 1 an electric parking brake apparatus having an electric parking brake control unit equipped with an input part for inputting a signal for automatically actuating and automatically releasing a parking brake, which signal is output from other control units mounted on a vehicle. Additionally, there is suggested in the following Patent Document 2 a vehicle parking brake apparatus, which is capable of monitoring an electric parking brake apparatus by determining, without depending on a sensor, whether or not the parking brake is abnormal from an arbitrary combination of signals input from points having each switch interposed therebetween.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-161046
Patent document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-66875
However, if a mechanical switch is not provided, a power of a control unit or the like, which controls an electric actuator, must be maintained to be turned on so as to output information regarding actuation and release of a parking brake to a system requiring acquisition of the information regarding the parking brake, thereby consuming a power charged in a battery.